Do you need a business license in West Virginia? Most businesses operating there do.
Anyone doing business in West Virginia, including remote sellers who must collect its sales tax. You need one once you have to collect West Virginia's sales tax, which for a remote seller starts at its sales threshold.
Checked by the BaseAcross team.
West Virginia at a glance
- General licence
- YesBusiness Registration Certificate
- Run from abroad
- Past a thresholdOnce sales there pass it
- Sales tax
- YesCovered by the Business Registration Certificate
- Federal licence
- NoneOnly regulated activities
Business licences in West Virginia
What West Virginia asks of a business, and what that means for one run from abroad.
Business Registration Certificate Anyone doing business in West Virginia, including remote sellers who must collect its sales tax. $30, once. Issued by the West Virginia Tax Division. The official page.
If you run it from abroad. You need one once you have to collect West Virginia's sales tax, which for a remote seller starts at its sales threshold.
Sales tax. Covered by the Business Registration Certificate, from the West Virginia Tax Division, once you have to collect West Virginia's sales tax. Register.
Cities and counties. West Virginia cities can add their own business taxes and licences.
Regulated work. Alcohol, food, health, finance, transport and the licensed professions bring their own federal or state licences, wherever you're based. The lookup below lists them.
What does your company need?
Set to a company formed in West Virginia and run from abroad. Change any answer.
Your answer
Nothing to apply for right now.
Based on your answers, no licence is needed today. Below is what would change that, and what you can stop worrying about.
You'll need later, if this happens· 2
Business Registration Certificate (West Virginia)
You need one once you have to collect West Virginia's sales tax, which for a remote seller starts at its sales threshold.
Anyone doing business in West Virginia, including remote sellers who must collect its sales tax.
$30, onceFrom the West Virginia Tax Division
A licence in a state you sell into a lot
Only Alaska, Hawaii, Washington reach a seller with no presence. Every other state doesn't.
Alaska: Alaska expects a licence if any part of your business happens in Alaska, so check before you sell there regularly. Hawaii: You need one once you have $100,000 of sales or 200 transactions with Hawaii customers in a year, even with no presence there. Washington: You need one once you have more than $100,000 a year of sales to Washington customers, even with no presence there.
You don't need· 4
A city licence where you have no office
City and county licences are for businesses located there. A company run from abroad isn't located in a US city.
A seller's permit before you have to collect sales tax
A seller's permit is a sales tax registration, not a licence to sell. You need one in a state once you have to collect its tax.
A licence to form your company
Forming an LLC or corporation is a filing, not a licence. Your EIN is a tax number, not a licence either.
A general federal business licence
There isn't one. The US licenses specific activities, such as alcohol, firearms and broadcasting, not businesses in general.
Want it checked for your exact business?
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West Virginia has a Business Registration Certificate, from the West Virginia Tax Division. Anyone doing business in West Virginia, including remote sellers who must collect its sales tax. It costs $30, once.
You need one once you have to collect West Virginia's sales tax, which for a remote seller starts at its sales threshold.
Only once you have to collect West Virginia's sales tax: when you have an office, staff or stock there, or your sales into West Virginia pass its threshold. It's called a covered by the Business Registration Certificate, from the West Virginia Tax Division.
West Virginia cities can add their own business taxes and licences. A company with no office or staff in West Virginia isn't located in any of them.
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